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Looking for a receiver for Monitor70s and CS1

9

96Firebird

Diamond Member
First of all, I haven't bought the speakers yet, but is $300 a good deal for these? Local guy is selling them, these will go in my basement which has a projector so we sit a decent ways back.

Selling my basically brand new Polk Audio Monitor70 Series II floor speakers with the CS1 Series II Center Channel. I bought them all from brand new from newegg. Work perfectly, and sound good. The only reason I'm selling them is because I moved in with my girlfriend and they don't fit in our living room. Selling them rather than having them sit.

Floor Speakers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882290209

Center Speaker:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882290211
Click to expand...

Next, if I do get them, what is a good receiver to go with it? Want to spend $300 max, the lower the better. Our projector isn't very high quality (came with the house) but I want to keep this receiver for when I move onto something better. I don't need many bells and whistles, since I'm kinda new to home theater setups. Thanks for any suggestions.
 
300 is not a bad price for them depending on condition. But it is not a killer deal. I think when the model 70s go on sale is like 170 a pop.

do you have surrounds?
 
That doesn't sound too bad, but from what I recall, the CS2 is a better complement to the Monitor 70. I use a CS2 with my Monitor 70s (as the front speakers) and a CS10 (similar to the CS1) with some Monitor 50s (as the front speakers). I did notice my CS10 garble some sound the other day when a character shouted on a TV show with the volume up a little bit... that was a bit disparaging. 🙁
 
I'm no audiophile, hell right now we are using an old Pioneer mini-system for sound since we don't have anything else. It works, although it doesn't sound good at all haha. As far as surrounds, nothing yet. The room is pre-wired, so we plan on picking up some bookshelf speakers for the rear. Don't know if we will be getting a sub yet, I guess we'll see how this all sounds for now. I just want to get the ghetto-looking mini-system out of there and am ready for a clean look. But I'm assuming this is a good start for a beginner like me?

Any receiver suggestions? From what I've been reading, refurbs can be had for a pretty good deal.
 
Last holiday season:
Monitor 70 $150 each
Monitor 60 $99 each
PSW505 Sub -I think under $200, maybe $189 --someone correct me if my memory is failing me.

The CS1 does get overpowered by the Monitor 70 in home theatre when there is dialog. I don't remembrer the CS2 sale price from last year.

Receiver: The egg also had Onkyo, Pioneer, and I think a Dennon reciever for cheap last holiday season. If your price range allows, try to get preouts for an amp later on.
 
If your use is purely home theater, this might be a good alternative: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2230996&highlight=pioneer Really like the floorstanders and center for home theater use at budget price. Larger bookshelves are good, but definitely sound base-deficient without a sub. I own a Hsu sub, but decided to pick up the Pioneer sub because it is very cheap on sale. First one hummed loudly when plugged in, then died about 5 minutes later. Newegg replaced it, and second one also hums loudly, even at idle (so I wouldn't recommend for bedroom system). Bigger bookshelves and sub do sound surprisingly good in small room I tested them (10 x 12) with Pioneer VSX-1020 and music as a source.

Haven't heard those Polks, but I always think of Polk more as a music first type of speaker that can also do competent duty in home theater uses.

Guys over at Club Polk forums (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/index.php) can probably tell you their impressions from actually owning the speakers.
 
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The Monitor 70s do work decently without a sub, but they still won't beat actually having one. I used to use a CS10 with the 70s before I put in the CS2, and it worked well enough.

It's not a bad deal.
 
The room these are going into is huge, think basement with projector. They will be about 20 feet from where we sit.

So for now I think I'm just going to pick these up and maybe a pair of the Pioneer bookshelf speakers for $50 at Newegg for rear speakers. Still undecided on the receiver, but I have been looking at the Denon AVR-1612. Seems basic enough, will 75W @ 8ohm be enough to power the Monitor70s? I'm assuming yes, but I'm not experienced with home audio. In car audio, you want to match the speaker's RMS rating with the amp's RMS rating. In home audio, there seems to be a range for the speaker. I'm guessing anywhere in that range is fine?

Thanks again for the help.
 
Have you looked at the Hsu bookshelves?: http://hsuresearch.com/products/hb-1.html

Easy to drive and high sensitivity. Sweet spot for imaging is fairly narrow, though (because of horn tweeter dispersion). Looks like they should scale up nicely to bigger room, just need much beefier and powerful sub to complement the bookshelves: http://hsuresearch.com/packages.html

Can start with two bookshelves and stop gap sub just to get feel for whether you like Hsu sound (reminds me of Klipsch, but more refined treble). For music, balanced tonal balance can make missing sub not too much of an issue (listening to radio). Don't have much actual output below 60hz, but balance of treble and bass are rolled off evenly so perception is of fairly full (and slightly dark) tonal balance.

Parts Express has fairly cheap sub designed that were apparently based upon Hsu sub design.

From comments on other Polk speakers I've seen at Club Polk (e. g. LSI 9 or LSI 15; LSI 7 can apparently be driven competently by avr), you really need a powerful amp for them, Outlaw 200 wpc monoblocks or Emotiva or something like that.
 
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You have a relatively "massive" distance for the sound to travel to get to your ear. The distance alone is probably going to cause a 10db+ drop in volume. Now, that AVR-1612 will probably be enough at moderate levels but if you like it loud or at reference volume then you either need a receiver with a good bit more power or you need to get one that has pre-outs and add separate amps for the front L/R channels at minimum.

Also under movie conditions with all the speakers going I'd be surprised if that Denon or any receiver close to that price range even puts out a 3rd of its rated power for each channel. Its not that they are bad, they just aren't designed for large rooms.
 
I misjudged the distance, it's more like 15ft. I will try to find a receiver that has pre-outs, just in case. Any suggestions? How are Yamaha receivers? I've heard some weird problems with Onkyo receivers, should I stay away from those?

mshan, those bookshelf are a little more than I want to spend for my rear speakers. I was thinking of just picking up the Pioneer BS21 for the rear, for $50 I figure I can't go wrong. Who knows, maybe I'm thinking of all this the wrong way.
 
The pioneers will be fine for rears. Yamaha's are fine but they don't have any lower end models with pre-outs. Pretty much the same goes for Onkyo, Denon, Pioneer, or just about anyone else with current models out right now. =/

Probably well more than you want to spend but I found these:

$599 - Refurbished Denon: http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...-A/V-Surround-Receiver/1.html#!specifications

$629 - New Yamaha: http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-A810BL-7-2-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B0056HRK9G

$468 - Used Yamaha but Fulfilled by Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056YMMF6/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
 
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Yeah those are more than I want to spend... I don't understand why those models (that have a higher output to begin with) are the only ones with pre-outs, when you think you would need pre-outs with models that have a lower output. Do they make receivers that just have pre-outs to send the signal to amplifiers without having any speaker connections itself?

How is the Pioneer VSX-1022-K? Looks like it has decent features for being a new 7.1 channel for the price ($300).
 
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96Firebird said:
Yeah those are more than I want to spend... I don't understand why those models (that have a higher output to begin with) are the only ones with pre-outs, when you think you would need pre-outs with models that have a lower output. Do they make receivers that just have pre-outs to send the signal to amplifiers without having any speaker connections itself?
Click to expand...

Those are called preamp/processors. They are even more expensive :biggrin:
 
Step back about 5 years and you could find units in the $300 range with pre-outs. Then they started phasing them out in the lower models to force you to buy the upper models if you want that feature.
 
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Hmm... Now I have even more choices...

Yesterday I was looking at the Onkyo TX-NR515 7.2 channel receiver for $300 from Newegg. Seems like a lot of nice features for the price, I like that it has an ethernet port for internet apps like Pandora and Spotify. Being 7.2, I can hook up the Zone 2 to a pair of outdoor speakers we have on our deck, which need a receiver anyways. I know there are some issues with the HDMI port right now, that people are waiting on a fix. Fortunately (or unfortunately), our projector is a cheap Dell projector, and won't even be hooked up through the receiver. It uses VGA from my HTPC, and will be hooking the computer up to the receiver via optical. So I won't be dealing with that issue (which seems to only effect some people) until I get a better projector/HDTV. I also plan on getting the Pioneer SP-BS21-LR bookshelf speakers, which are on sale for $50 at Newegg right now. Also has Audyssey 2EQ to setup the speakers.

Then, this morning, I check my e-mail and it looks like Newegg has a deal with some Yamaha receivers where you receive the Pioneer speakers for free... So that would be a savings of $50. They have the Yamaha TX-V373 5.1 channel receiver that includes the Pioneer bookshelves for $250. So in reality, that is a savings of $100 for me. Since the Yamaha is only 5.1, I can't power the outdoor speakers with this receiver. Also, it doesn't hook up to my network, and I can't use my phone/iPod Touch to control things. I like that feature.

So then the next one up is the Yamaha RX-V473. More expensive, but Newegg includes a $75 gift card that I can use to buy the bookshelf rear speakers. Get the iPod remote control, but still no zone 2 to control the outdoor speakers. Would be about the same price as the Onkyo NR515 after the speakers are bought too.

After this comes the Yamaha RX-573, which is 7.1 channel and is available at Newegg for $500. It has "Zone B", which I'm pretty sure just extends the audio on the receiver into the second zone. Whereas "Zone 2" on the Onkyo can play a separate source for the outdoor speakers, which is nice. However, this receiver comes with a nicer set of Polk Monitor40 Bookshelf speakers for free, not sure if they are any better than the Pioneers though (I assume they are).

So right now I am leaning towards the Onkyo NR515, any other suggestions?
 
If you are willing to spend up to $500, I'd just spend $450 on this refurbished Onkyo TX-NR709 receiver. http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...l-3-D-Ready-Network-A/V-Receiver/1.html#!more Sure, it doesn't come with an extra set of speakers or a gift card but its an over-all much more capable receiver and it has pre-outs, Zone 2, USB, Ethernet, Internet radio, and the much more advanced Audyssey MultiEQ XT. And yes its a refurb but it has a 1-year warranty.


Of the ones you listed just get the one you think you be happiest with, they're all pretty close.
 
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I really didn't want to spend close to $500, so I bought the Onkyo TX-NR515 for $300 from Amazon. Came with the free USB adapter for wireless networking, which is nice. Go it yesterday and hooked it all up late last night, didn't really have time to mess around with much but got the network set up and hooked the receiver up to my PC via optical cable. Unfortunately, since the receiver isn't hooked up to the projector, we had to bring down our living room TV to use the on-screen menu. I'm going to set up everything so I don't need to access the menu. Sounded good from what I heard last night, watched an episode of Dexter and liked what I heard. Might need to get a sub though soon, even with 4 6.5" drivers on each Monitor70, still missing that low range bass.
 
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